Page 4 - The Gluckman Occasional Number Five

Wise Guys of Philosophy

Zeno (c. 490-430 B.C.)

Neither man nor tortoise ever faltered—
Yet one slogged through a time zone altered;
Achilles’ heel was mired in chopped logic:
Was Zeno joking or pedagogic?

Socrates (470-399 B.C.)

“I know we know nothing,” said Socrates;
“But you do not: that proves my expertise.”
Athens (disliking mock humility)
Gave him hemlock for incivility.

Diogenes (c. 412-323 B.C.)

At a toga party Plato stated
“Man’s the featherless biped.”—that grated
On Diogenes, who had to instruct
The Great One with a chicken cleanly plucked.

Archimedes (c. 287-c. 212 B.C.)

Archimedes boasted with a fulcrum,
Very long prong and a place to pull from,
(Add a strong alcoholic beverage!)
He could shift the Earth with that leverage.